One of them was among the cityâs most expensive listings â' the penthouse at the Pierre Hotel. It sold for $44 million in September, four years after hitting the market asking $125 million. In 2015, after failing to sell the 12,000-square-foot co-op for $63 million, owner Barbara Zweig pulled the triplex off the market for a redesign. BGC Partnersâ Howard Lutnick was reportedly the buyer...

And a nearby space with a similar history hit the market last month. Also, in 1984, Prudential-Bache Securities signed a deal for 340,000 square feet at 199 Water Street, a 1.1 million-square-foot tower built by Jack Resnick & Sons. Following several mergers, Prudential-Bache is now part of lender Wells Fargo, and has subleased its space at 199 Water to firms including BGC Partners and Allied World Assurance...

CBRE was far ahead of its nearest rival: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. That firm, headed by CEO Barry Gosin and now a part of the public company BGC Partners, brokered a little over 10.2 million square feet of deals...